Louis Kaestner
Louis "the Commodore" Kaestner (1843-1921) was an American political boss who ruled over Atlantic City, New Jersey during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Kaestner, a former Commodore in the US Navy and American Civil War veteran, built the boardwalks, hotels, and attractions of Atlantic City, transforming a swamp into a paradise. He was murdered by his illegitimate son Jimmy Darmody in 1921. Biography Louis Kaestner was born in New Jersey in 1843, and he served in the US Navy during the American Civil War. Kaestner's brother was killed during the Siege of Vicksburg, and Kaestner would rise to the rank of Commodore due to his service in the navy. Political boss Kaestner later came to the city of Atlantic City to enter politics as a member of the liberal Republican Party; the city was a swamp when he arrived there. Kaestner rose to become the "political boss" of the city, controlling a political machine. Kaestner built the casinos, hotels, ferries, railroads and boardwalk attractions in the city, and he built a beautiful mansion for himself. Kaestner took Enoch Thompson under his wing and made him county sheriff in 1912, grooming him as his heir; Thompson took it Kaestner's illegitimate son James Darmody, who was the son of Kaestner and a thirteen-year-old prostitute named Gillian Darmody. Atlantic City coup When Governor Woodrow Wilson decided to prosecute the Kaestner machine due to its use of electoral fraud, he gave Kaestner the option of sending one person to prison; either him or Thompson would go to jail for fraud. Kaestner agreed, allowing for Thompson to take over while he was in prison. When he was released, Kaestner felt excluded from Thompson's life, and he grew angry at Thompson, especially when Thompson gave Kaestner's African-American maid a fresh start far away even after she attempted to murder Kaestner with arsenic poisoning. Kaestner made rapproachment with his illegitimate son, and the two seized power from Thompson in a political coup, backed by Sheriff Eli Thompson. However, he suffered from a stroke, paralyzing his right side. After a series of reverses, Darmody lost faith in being able to maintain power, even when Thompson resigned and let Darmody and Kaestner rule over the city. Downfall A general strike and business failures led to the coup leaders' reputations being ruined, and Darmody's enemy Manny Horvitz murdered Darmody's wife and her lover. Darmody confronted his mother about this, and he attacked her when she said that Darmody's son would forget about the murder of his mother. Hoping to protect his former lover, Kaestner attempted to stab Darmody with an antique spear, but Darmody used a trench knife to stab him in the abdomen. Gillian Darmody encouraged Jimmy to finish him off, and Jimmy Darmody stabbed his father again in the chest with the knife, killing him. Category:1843 births Category:1921 deaths Category:German-Americans Category:Americans Category:Admirals Category:Politicians Category:American admirals Category:American politicians Category:Protestants Category:Criminals Category:Republican Party members Category:American conservatives Category:Conservatives Category:New Jersey Republicans Category:People from Atlantic City Category:People from New Jersey